Open Thread: What Book Would You Live In?

Narnia, the Yorkshire Dales, New Mexico, Corfu? What’s Your Destination?

If you could live inside any book for a week—not as a character, just as yourself, observing and interacting with the characters—which would you choose and why? I asked my wife a version of this question on a recent date night, and she said All Creatures Great and Small. I get that. Who wouldn’t love to see Siegfried Farnon and Mrs. Pumphrey in action? Same with Tristan! A pint at the Drovers sounds delightful—just don’t let James anywhere near Granville Bennett.

A boy reading Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals, Italian edition. Photo by SWT666.

As I turned the question over in my mind, I came up with a few different options. I’m reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my daughter Naomi right now. I think I’d love to sail the Dawn Treader. I think I’d also love to see the American Southwest through the lens of Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop. But if push comes to shove? I’m choosing Gerald Durrell’s Corfu, as depicted in My Family and Other Animals. I’ll just be careful not to step in Leslie’s line of fire.

Your turn: What book would you live in if you could? Consider it a two-week vacation in any universe of your choosing.

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